March 30, 2011


Santa Clara wins the 2011 CIT Championship


Box Score


New Rochelle, NY (Sports Network) - Kevin Foster led five players in double figures with 16 points, and Santa Clara won the College Insider.com Tournament title with a 76-69 victory over Iona at the Hynes Athletic Center.

The visiting Broncos (24-14), traveling cross-country to play in the title tilt, received 14 points and eight rebounds from Ben Dowdell and 12 points and eight rebounds from Marc Trasolini. Raymond Cowels III posted 11 points and Michael Santos donated 10 points and eight rebounds in the victory.

Mike Glover led Iona (25-12) with 22 points, Sean Armand added 14 and Scott Machado netted 12 points and dished out seven assists. The Gaels came one win short of winning the Metro Atlantic Conference Tournament's automatic bid, succumbing to St. Peter's in the final, then won three games to reach the title game.

This matchup was the first between these two teams since the Tournament of Roses in Portland, Oregon in 1960. It all came up roses for the Broncos, who saw themselves in a quick 8-2 hole before pulling within 16-15 on the heels on a 7-0 burst.

Moments later, Iona then went over 4 1/2 minutes without a point as Santa Clara rattled off 15 straight points to seize a 30-19 edge. Foster scored the first five points and Dowdell's two free throws capped the stretch.

Iona got back within five points, but the Broncos scored the final five points with Foster's three just before the buzzer pushing the margin to double digits, 38-28.

The Gaels narrowed the deficit to two points at 40-38 on Machado's layup with just under 16 minutes to go and his bucket in transition tied the contest moments later, capping a 12-2 run to open the half. The Broncos again answered, this time with eight successive points thanks in large part to Foster, who drained two of his three treys during this pivotal stretch.

Iona whittled the deficit to as little as five, but another big scoring burst, this one another 8-0 stretch, capped by Foster's layup made the score 65-51, and put the game on ice.


ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Papa Dia (SMU), Mike Glover (Iona), Kevin Foster (Santa Clara), Scott Machado (Iona), Troy Payne (Santa Clara) Mike Smith (East Tennessee State), Marc Trasolini (Santa Clara)

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: Kevin Foster (Santa Clara)
 





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